


To Be Condemned

by Duchess_Of_Dumpsters



Category: Hermitcraft RPF, hermitcraft recap
Genre: Angst, Body Horror, Cults, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Horror, M/M, Mycelium Resistance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Permanent Death AU, Pining, Urban Fantasy, Wounds, small town, zombies au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27158920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duchess_Of_Dumpsters/pseuds/Duchess_Of_Dumpsters
Summary: In the era when Nokia phones were the tech to have, a time before Youtube was a thing...In a little town in the middle of nowhere, it's population dwindling in the wake of changes to the nation brought on by the rise of technology hides something most the people of Hermiton refuse to acknowledge.Follow along as two film undergrads, Pixl and Zloy, travel to this town that is on the brink of abandonment, as they explore abandoned places of a slowly fading town... only to find something they should have left buried.
Relationships: Pixl/Zloy, Pixloy, Tangpulse, Zloy/Pixl
Comments: 15
Kudos: 21





	1. The Lab

**Author's Note:**

> If interested, there is a playlist I put together that follows the plot beats of this overall story, have fun!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAND8tGKRkSJ-PVDQgqoZmjd4C9ABkmlQ

“So what was this place?” Zloy asked as he slowed the van a bit, the road leading to the abandoned facility’s parking was a bit haphazard. Potholes littered the crumbling asphalt and the greenery around was encroaching tightly over the road.

“It was a research lab… mostly agricultural I think, chemicals and food genetics,” Pixl answered, folding the road atlas up and tucking it back into the glovebox.

“It closed in 82’ right?” Zloy asked, smoothly turning the wheel to guide the clunky ford around another fallen branch in the road.

“Yeah, it opened in the 40’s or 50’s if I remember right.” Pixl nodded, leaning back in his seat, watching ahead. Zloy rounded one more bend, slowing down even more to roll through a pothole large enough to swallow a subcompact. As he did the van dipped harder to the right and the building they’d been searching for loomed up ahead. Consumed by the nature all around it, the mass looked like some dystopian remnant of the past.

“And we’re not supposed to be here…” Zloy noted, guiding the van into a section of the parking lot that was heavily obscured by the greenery. Even if they were a ways away from the little town, the last thing they needed was to be noticed.

“Yeah, we’ve gotta be careful but as long as we don’t break anything and don’t get caught we should be good.” Pixl said, reaching over to gently pat Zloy’s arm before recoiling awkwardly, like he’d done that without thinking. Zloy hadn’t minded though, he found himself more comfortable around Pixl than most people.

“Alright, let’s do this.” He cut the engine and the sound of the motor fell quiet with a shudder that gave him a little pause. He hoped the borrowed vehicle wouldn’t give them trouble when they chose to leave but his uncle had promised it could hack the long drive. Hermiton was well out of the way for them, though. He and Pixl had been on the road for hours to get here and while they’d avoided the town proper so far, more than half the city’s buildings were left vacant and abandoned. It was perfect for their documentary.

The sound of metal on metal groaning was sharp in Zloy’s ear as Pixl opened the passenger door and hopped out. Zloy followed suit, thankfully the driver door’s hinges weren’t as cranky. He stepped out into a pile of leaves and branches that collapsed under his boots, years of buildup, new saplings growing out of the composted leaves of a larger pile in what had once been a manager’s parking space from the rusted sign hung on a sagging chain link fence. The metal groan came again followed by the sound of the heavy van door getting heaved closed, shaking the vehicle a bit. Zloy closed the driver door with almost the same amount of effort to make sure it latched. He headed around to the back of the van, meeting Pixl there, his classmate was holding his phone in the air. The Nokia wrapped in a brightly colored shell that Pixl had likely gotten off of ebay, he couldn’t help smirking to himself. No doubt the purpose was to help keep the phone from being misplaced.

Zloy peeled his attention from Pixl though, he didn't dare to get distracted when they had work to do. He opened the back doors of the van, leaving their film equipment spread across the van floor in easy reach.

“Signal is shit out here.” Pixl noted, stuffing his phone back in his pocket.

“What, trying to text the girlfriend?” Zloy teased, though he wasn’t sure whether Pixl was seeing anyone or not. His fellow undergrad snorted and rolled his eyes.

“Hardly, I was just making sure my roommate remembers to feed the fish.” Pixl explained, digging through one of the bags. He set aside a respirator before digging through the bag again, then a bit more frantically, clearly not finding what he was looking for.

“Did we miss something?” Zloy asked, pulling over another bag which Pixl quickly started searching through.

“We’re short a respirator…” He noted, concerned.

“Don’t worry about it, you use the one we’ve got, I’ll be fine.” Zloy shrugged, reaching for one of the camera cases. He’d barely gotten it unzipped before Pixl was shoving a faded green bandana in his face.

“At least wear something, there’s no telling what mold and god knows what else is in there.” He said firmly and Zloy snatched it to put it on, more to hide the blush climbing his features than any actual concern for some mildew.

“Thanks… we wanna get some good stills?” Zloy asked, changing the subject before he could get too flustered.

“Wouldn’t hurt.”

With a nod Zloy scooped up the other camera and passed the video camera to Pixl. Once they had everything they’d probably need they headed toward the building itself. It loomed its full three stories over them and already Pixl had the mask on and the camera up. They lapsed into silence as they made their way around, the doors were chained but there was a broken window right next to them. Stepping over the ledge that was only a foot off the ground, they were in. Clearly it was the reception area with a counter, an old set of phones still in place, and a deteriorated notebook laying beside one of them. The floor squished and squelched under their feet, the low pile carpet soaked through with water and in many places it was growing patches of moss or lichen. There were high windows along two walls, the back wall was a curving one though, a doorway behind the reception counter and a hall leading off along one of the windowed walls. There were numerous ceiling tiles missing, wires hanging loose above but long dead. There were a few other broken windows, tree branches poking through here and there. The waiting area seats that had been left behind were badly damaged. Zloy went to crouch near one, its fabric ripped, stuffing spilling forth and molded. Growing out of the middle was a little grouping of mushrooms. He made sure to get a few good shots at a variety of angles.

He heard a snapping of plastic and glanced up to see Pixl investigating something he’d stepped on. Zloy stood, joining him again, it was just an old, brittle pen though, nothing really of note. With a nod to each other they headed through the doorway, checking out the room beyond. It was surprisingly dark and there were a few long seconds of soft clicking as Pixl fiddled with the light on his camera, among that though, Zloy heard a wet, dragging sound on the far side of the room, off to the left. He glanced that way just as the room flooded with light from the camera…

There was nothing there.

The room was filled mostly with filing cabinets, it wasn’t very deep but there was a hole in the wall, from the floor to about half way up. The ceiling was lower in this room and some of the fluorescent lights were hanging loose, held only by a screw or two on one side. There were many ceiling tiles missing, mushed into the floor or melted across the tops of the old cabinets. There was a bit of venting hanging loose and a suspicious looking low spot in the middle of the floor.

“This room doesn’t look very sound, lot of water damage.” Pixl noted, standing near the door as he got a few good shots of the room. Zloy knew he should probably do the same for a few stills but he got a bit sidetracked looking at Pixl, watching the way he moved. He certainly wasn’t hard on the eyes by any means and Zloy felt the other film student would look striking in literally anything he chose to wear, though currently the way his shirt rode up as he stretched to get the camera higher, giving Zloy just a peak at the smooth, healthy body hiding beneath-

Quickly he stepped out of the room, back at the sun filled lobby and took several steps back towards the door. He tried to shove the thoughts from his mind, trying to force away any inkling of ever being able to run his hands along Pixl’s sides…

“You okay?” Pixl called, voice ever so muffled, reminding Zloy that the cameraman was wearing a respirator and in turn… something Zloy could use as cover.

“Yeah, just smells really strong in there.” He called back, choking against the squeak in his voice, which in turn made it more believable.

“Oh! Yeah, stay out of here then. I’m almost done.”

Zloy just nodded a bit, closing his eyes and trying to get his mind back on track. This far out from uni he couldn’t be blurting his feelings and making things awkward. Besides, he wasn’t sure exactly how deep that attraction was, what it honestly meant… He only… loved the way Pixl sang along with the radio, the presence he held with presentation. That endless supportive, almost protective nature he had, the bright smile that lit up a room… So there might be a few things.

That point only settled in the more when Pixl laid a hand on his shoulder, drawing Zloy from his thoughts, he hadn’t even heard Pixl come over, that’s how engrossed he’d been.

“I’m okay.” he assured him, glancing up at the worried expression Pixl wore.

Zloy didn’t give Pixl time to decide to argue, standing upright again and turning towards the hall. Physically he was fine, there was no reason to back out of exploring this place. He could hear Pixl fall into step behind him and it took more willpower than he’d like to admit not to glance back at the man behind him. Instead he forced himself to focus on the new room the hall opened into, it was mostly empty, the walkway along the windows stayed low, but to the right the floor sloped up to a raised area, there wasn’t much of anything left but it smelled rancid. The smell left him wrinkling his nose, it was like food long left to rot. The scent of something old and dead, of mold, mildew and gods only knew what else. There was mold all up one wall near the door and service window. There was enough space in this room to have had a lot of tables, he was willing to bet this had been a cafeteria. Pixl passed him, heading up towards the doorway, Zloy tried not to stare despite how well Pixl’s jeans fit. He shook his head, following the curving walkway along the windows trying to find anything to get a picture of… but glancing back towards Pixl, at the awkward angle he was standing at to get a good shot… Zloy made sure the flash was off and got a few pictures, trying to justify the shots as being useful for showing behind the scenes of a cameraman… yeah, that was…

Definitely it.

Yep.

With a soft sigh he stepped up onto the raised area, following Pixl through the doorway. There were counters, most of the room was empty but one old soda machine sat on the counter, hoses strung out from it like the wires hanging from the ceiling in many places. He glanced first to Pixl to make sure the flash wouldn’t disturb any shots then, turning said flash on, went to get a few shots of the dilapidated thing. The labels that still clung to their respective spigots truly dated the thing, showing just how long it had been sitting there. There was another doorway and Pixl was already going that way, considering he had the better source of light Zloy followed him. He was hesitant to whip out a flashlight just yet, not wanting to interrupt any shots Pixl might be trying to get.

Considering they’d be voicing over the footage though, he didn’t have any concern about speaking up.

“How big is this place?”

“Huge, best not to get separated, it’ll probably take all day to explore and then leave before it gets dark.” Pixl explained.

“Sounds like a plan.” Zloy nodded, stepping into the hallway behind him. The area was so littered with lunch trays they had no choice but to walk across some, which cracked and crumbled under their feet. There was a bright light, the curving set of windows he realized, at the end of the hall and they headed that way, walking past a storage area that was easily the source of the earlier stench. Back in the hallway with the long curved wall of windows, leading back to the cafeteria on their left and to a door on their right. The heavy metal door sported a sign that said ‘authorized personnel only’ but when Pixl pushed on it, it opened easily. Zloy followed him through the door, into the larger hallway with branching halls off to the left and a staircase that looked less than serviceable to the right.

“That looks like it leads to offices.” Pixl noted as he stepped back to get a better angle of the hall above.

“It would make sense.” Zloy said, passing him but staying out of shot, past the staircase on the ground floor there were a few more doorways.

He took the flashlight from his back pocket then shined it into one of the rooms, it sat entirely empty, just soggy carpet, and mold on the walls. Moving along he took a peek into the next one, more soggy carpet, more mold, but this one had a very large growth of odd mushrooms growing up one wall. Something about it felt… strange, sending a wave of chills over him as he looked at it. Still, he tucked the flashlight under one arm and angled the camera into the room, getting a couple good shots of the strange growth. He was no expert on mushrooms but these were considerably different shape and color from the ones he’d seen in the lobby. Those had been the more tall and narrow with long stems and caps that looked like half closed umbrellas, these were more like half caps fanning out directly from the wall, each easily the size of his hand or bigger.

“What’d you find?” Pixl asked, the soft sploosh of a puddle following the words as Pixl walked through it.

“Just some weird mushrooms.” Zloy shrugged and stepped back, letting Pixl lean into the room with the camera.

“Oh that is weird, I’ve never seen anything like those before.”

“Kinda creepy right?”

“Yeah, pretty off-putting.” Pixl agreed with a nod, stepping back out of the room.

Together they crossed to the otherside of the hall without another word, there wasn’t much else to see in this part of the lab that they could see. There was a door with a plaque next to it that looked to have been a directory, but there were too many letters missing to make out what it had said, on the door itself there was a sign that read ‘please wear proper eye protection beyond this point.’ Opening said door revealed a hallway with interspersed nozzles on the walls and ceiling, the floor was grated, it was dark, but the stainless steel walls were highly reflective, so the light from the camera was redoubled as they entered. Pixl walked slow, getting good footage of the now eerie decontamination chamber. The door at the other end was hanging half off of its hinges, slightly wedged into the floor. They had to step around it and Zloy didn’t like the way the floor groaned under their weight. The hallway split off along the wall both ahead and to the right, in the center were walls with doorways, the whole area was pretty well lit considering the amount of natural light flooding in. The floor of the halls looked to be tiled, there was about a half inch of water all along it, patches of moss and more mushrooms growing on piles of debris. The ceiling was all but bare of tiles, most having fallen and long since deteriorated to leave the wires and ventilation ducts in plain view. Many of the windows were broken or hung open and the drywall on both sides of the hallway was stained a multitude of colors between water damage, algae and mold. Even parts of the floor had long green swaths of algae and some of that had animal paw prints strewn across it.

Pixl walked slow, panning along this way or that, getting interesting or well documenting shots. Zloy hung back, just watching him for a long moment, unable to shake the thoughts of how gracefully the other man moved. What Zloy wouldn’t give to-

He shook the thought away before it could go further and focused on getting more stills, some mushrooms here, some paw prints there, the trees so pressed to the glass so intensely that nothing but leaves and sky were visible, even as sparsely leafed as each branch was, there was so much of whatever tree that was there was no seeing the ground outside, just the light spilling through the leaves making them look like thousands of chips of emeralds scattered through a thicket. At least, with all the windows open as they were, the smell here wasn’t terribly strong. Just earthy and damp. It was however, oddly quiet, not a single insect or bird call to be heard, only their own footsteps and the creaking of the building as they moved through it, the click of a flash from his camera or the occasional beep from Pixl’s.

“Looks like this was the labs themselves.” Pixl’s voice raing out and Zloy glanced his way.

Pixl was stepping through one of the doorways and the way his camera light bounced off of things it made it clear that it was one big room so Zloy stepped in the doorway nearest him. Inside the large room was bay after bay after bay of counters, cabinets and occasionally odd vacuum arms hanging from the ceiling. The counters all had a layer of dirt and grime, the cabinets were painted metal and seemed to be holding up well. The upper cabinets in each bay were glass, the shelves within lay bare. Whatever chemicals and whatnot they once worked with were gone now.

He rejoined Pixl a few bays down, the cameraman focused on something on the floor. Zloy leaned in, there was a container on the floor, about the size of one for coffee grounds, but white. Pixl was rolling it slightly with one foot, spouting out of it was a mess of mushrooms that had climbed the wall nearly to the ceiling, it was a mix of different kinds, including the strange ones from the office earlier.

“Mushroom based feed enhancer.” Pixl read from the remnants of label.

“Feed enhancer? For like, cattle?” Zloy frowned, glancing at the jar.

“Maybe? Some type of livestock at least, that would be my guess, too.” Pixl said, looking up as he did.

Their faces were so close that Zloy’s heart skipped a beat, had Pixl moved any more they’d have bumped into each other, which would have been a bit painful considering Zloy would have just gotten smacked by the respirator that Pixl was wearing, but still… so close… He could see the depth of color in Pixl’s eyes, beautiful orbs he quickly got lost in. Silence fell over them, neither moved for a long moment, that was until there was a loud clatter from the far end of the lab, causing them both to jump.

“What was that?” Pixl asked nervously, looking that direction.

“Probably an animal, let’s go see.” Zloy said, taking the lead this time and using the distraction fully. Forcing his mind to let go of the image it was clinging to, of Pixl’s eyes. No matter how hard he tried though, he knew that encounter would follow him to his dreams.

Rounding another set of bays, Zloy found the likely source of the noise, scattered across the floor were a half dozen stainless steel test tube holders. There were no actual test tubes to be seen, but from the soggy remains of cardboard around them it looked like a box of supplies had simply been forgotten. There were now paw prints in sight though, no obvious indication of what had knocked the box down. He glanced up as Pixl joined him and shrugged. After a few moments to film a bit more, they carried on, leaving the lab and now at the far end of the hall, headed through another door. The hallway was narrower here, still running along the outer wall. The windows were in better shape and none were open, causing this room to be very closed in. However it seemed unlikely the roof was in as bad of shape here since there was less water damage and most of the ceiling tiles were still intact.

They passed by empty room after empty room, there were occasionally wires or hoses left laying in the floor, one room had a couple of filing cabinets while another held a single table with some broken lab equipment. The next set of rooms had heavy wood doors with glass windows set in them, the two rooms had windows looking in as well. There was a sign on each door reading ‘sterile room’ but there was nothing inside. They were clean though. Lastly they passed a room that looked like it had probably been an office, but again, it was bare of pretty much anything. The hall opened into an area with a small atrium, there was a floor above here, it was hard to tell where it went or what it connected to, there was no staircase that they could see to go up. However in the center of the atrium was a pair of spiral staircases leading down.

“I thought we were already on the first floor…” Pixl noted, not trusting the railing but peeking over it to the darkness below.

“So did I but maybe the grounds slope down after the office building? When we were in the labs I couldn’t actually see the ground outside.” Zloy noted, glancing over to him.

“Hmm, maybe, let’s check out this floor before we go down.”

“Sounds good.”

With that they continued away from the hallway they’d come from to have a better look around, it was a wide open area, but there were rooms, once they reached the first few they quickly found yet another set of empty offices. It smelled musty here and it was much darker than the previous area but Zloy just resumed use of his flashlight. There was a lot more water damage in this area, the ceiling had many tiles missing and where they weren’t they were discolored. Most of the rooms had their doors closed and they were warped or swollen badly enough that despite the knob turning, the doors wouldn’t open. The floor was carpeted as well and the floor felt weak in a few places as they looked around. At the end of one of the dark hallways their lights fell upon an elevator and a door to a stairwell. There was a slow dribble through the ceiling in that part of the hall and Zloy skirted to the edge of the hallway, Pixl followed suit. Even there the floor felt weak and he took his time getting past that area.

“If we cross those spiral staircases we should probably use them to come back up.” Pixl noted, glancing back at the weak part of the floor.

“And we should probably skip the floor above, it’s likely a lot worse.” Zloy nodded as he pushed the door to the stairwell open. The stairwell was dark but the stairs were straight with landings rather than a spiral, it also had a much sturdier handrail than the one’s they’d seen earlier.

“I’m not going to argue that.” Pixl said, leaning against the railing and pointing his camera down, getting a shot of the tight space between before falling into step with Zloy.

Their footsteps echoed in the concrete box that was the stairwell. The sound bounced eerily, giving the clear feeling they were disturbing something they shouldn’t. The staircase ended on a concrete floor with a long corridor that contained doorways on either side into more rooms. They peeked in each as they went but there was nothing but piles of debris. Just as they were nearly to the atrium with the spiral staircases visible ahead, Zloy heard the sound of bare feet running on concrete behind them. He spun, flashing his light in the direction he heard but there was nothing there. Pixl seemed not to have noticed though, already crossing the atrium to the other hall. Zloy hurried to catch up, a little unnerved but not wanting Pixl alone if there was something down there.

On the other end of the atrium there was another concrete corridor but the room to the right had a much larger opening, shoved into that room was a large stainless steel box, as they approached it Zloy realized it was another decontamination chamber, this one was wider and from the drag marks in the concrete it had once stood flush with the corridor, but someone had moved it. The rest of the room was otherwise empty, though at the far end there was a large garage door, a loading bay perhaps. A bit more footage, a few more stills and they were back in the corridor, heading for the next room… the contents of this one surprised Zloy more than a little. It was open all the way to the other side, there was intense growth beyond the door, but the room itself held about six pens just large enough to hold one cow each with a small amount of room for it to move around. Despite how long the building had sat empty it seemed no one had cleaned the pens after the last cows were removed, the smell wasn’t great.

“So it likely was cattle feed enhancer.” Pixl noted, taking a moment to film the state of the room.

Zloy however, managed to catch another sneaky still of Zloy, this one zoomed in on his half hidden pensive expression with a backdrop of vibrant green. Pixl turned, heading back to the door but froze part way, pointing at the wall.

“More of those mushrooms…”

Zloy stepped into the room and turned to look, sure enough another large cluster was climbing the wall from within one of the pens. It was climbing high and very thick about half way up, as if the mushrooms had been growing on top of each other for a long time. It was again, unsettling, the wall discolored all around it.

“Genetically modified mushrooms?” Zloy asked, glancing back at Pixl.

“I’m starting to think so.”

Quietly they returned to the corridor, there were another set of pens, an odd room with nothing but waterers for cattle, then there was another lab room, the stainless steel table was on lifts, currently at their lowest setting, it was large enough to hold a full grown bull. Unlike the previous labs there was a lot more stuff laying around this one, though no chemicals. There were various other bits of lab equipment and while Zloy got a few stills he didn’t really focus on any of it, not caring to imagine what went on in there. Soon enough they were back in the corridor, which was narrowing back down to a regular hallway in size. They passed by a walk-in freezer that sat empty, it’s door open, there was a hall branching off past it but Pixl didn’t seem interested in going that way. Instead he stepped out the door directly ahead, Zloy found himself glad for the choice, this seemed to be the beginning of a series of greenhouses. The pathway toward them was well lit with natural light, there was something akin to a warehouse off to the right, it was empty though the hallway between it and the first group of greenhouses was built similarly to the greenhouses themselves, the roof made of glass or plexiglass, it was dirty but still let in copious amounts of sun. It was rather lovely seeing how the sun spilled through Pixl’s hair, framing his face beautifully and Zloy had to be careful not to get caught staring.

Zloy followed Pixl into one of the greenhouses, it was empty, more greenery pressed up against the walls from the outside than had even likely been within when the place was in use. There were rusted fan units up high, a low creaking sound that could have been anything from a breeze brushing through to the sunlight on the mixed materials making them shift and expand. It smelled of hot plastic and standing water, though he didn’t see any water, there were drainage grates here and there in the floor, likely clogged.

“It’s wild how empty it is…” Pixl noted, strafing very carefully sideways as he filmed the foliage piled against the outer wall.

“It’s so overgrown out there there’s no telling what all it might have been used for.” Zloy agreed.

“Nature reclaiming a place where it was once experimented on.” Pixl noted thoughtfully, getting down on one knee to get a shot of the only growth inside of the greenhouse, a little patch of mushrooms under a tool bench.

Zloy should have been looking for anything useful to take stills of, like the rusted fans above their heads… yet instead he ended up snapping a few more pictures of Pixl instead. That was, until Pixl stood and glanced his way, to which Zloy quickled changed to focus to those old units above, snapping a couple of haphazard and likely blurry pictures. If Pixl noticed he didn’t say anything, instead wandering back towards the entrance, filming the inside of the door before passing through it. Zloy took a steadying breath, focused the camera and got a few usable shots while silently chastising himself for being too easily distracted.

Rejoining Pixl in the hallway they continued on, many of the greenhouses were much of the same but whenever they saw anything of the least bit of interest they’d go inside. One of them was badly damaged, foliage from outside spilling in, another still had an old handbook laying on a tool cabinet, though there were no tools left. Many of them had dry erase boards right inside the door and Zloy made sure to get a shot of each, along with any interesting graffiti he spotted, though there was very little of that, to his surprise.

Eventually they were walking a hallway between greenhouses to their left and right, one caught Pixl’s eye and he headed inside. Zloy was close behind, though he had an uneasy feeling the further into this maze of glass houses they went. This one had a tree growing in it, the base of the tree growing right out of the wall, there were vines spilling out all across the concrete, strange yellow fruits that Zloy couldn’t quite identify hanging from it. The vined plant on the ground looked a lot like some form of squash, but there was no fruit on it, nor were there any blooms so he couldn’t say for sure. The tree though, something about it’s branches tangling and breaking through the greenhouse roof, something about the odd color of its leaves… it didn’t sit right with him. As Pixl filmed it Zloy moved to the far end of this greenhouse, looking the place over, the drainage grates were more notably clogged, there were mushrooms growing out of them.

“I bet this was one of their experiments.” Pixl noted after a moment and Zloy walked back over to get a few shots of the strange fruit.

“No doubt, I don’t like the looks of it though.”

“It’s very… weird. In a bad way.” Pixl agreed, glancing over and once again Zloy caught his gaze. He wasn’t as close this time but he couldn’t bring himself to break the eye contact, wanting only to get lost in those beautiful eyes. It was Pixl who broke that first, turning away, it felt like something was left unsaid hanging in the air, something that tugged at Zloy’s heart but he couldn’t find the words that fit. Instead he fell into step behind Pixl once again, returning to the long hallway of unending greenhouses. Though, no sooner had he thought that did the greenhouses end on one side, still continuing on the left. On the right were a series of what had likely once been storage and there were more than a few old potting benches left abandoned and in disrepair. The last of these buildings though, was shut up tight. On its door was an odd bit of graffiti, the paint was a pale almost purple, a circle inside a circle, inside of that was a fourteen pointed star, or perhaps it was actually a sun. the center of that had a faceted design, as if representing a jewel. Zloy knelt to get a good shot of it before moving aside so Pixl could do the same, panning around the door, which made sense considering the paint had the faintest of shimmer to it. Once he lowered the camera Zloy reached over to try the door, it seemed surprising that the door came open as easily as it did, something about it had left Zloy thinking it would be locked. It wasn’t.

Inside were many boxes meant for growing mushrooms, rows and rows of them, there was an overabundance of the strange mushrooms they’d seen elsewhere and… it looked like someone had been tending them _recently_ . Someone was _tending_ these. Aside from the boxes and boxes of mushrooms the room was clean, there were tools sitting nearby but most notably a bottle of soda with a label too recent to have been left behind by someone who’d worked here in the past… there was condensation beading off of the bottle, it was still _cold_.

Someone else was _here_.

Slowly, Zloy glanced over, Pixl looking to him and a tense silence hung in the air. Slowly, Zloy pushed the door closed, glanced around, and tried to guess where the other person could have gone. It was hard to say though, the eerie path of glass and green continued on forever it felt. There were occasional missing panels ahead though, they could be hiding in that thick brush…

“We should go… we have enough footage.” Pixl whispered and Zloy nodded, unnerved. Some of that brush outside of the greenhouses, packed so tightly between them, _moved_.

Pixl broke into a run back the way they’d come and Zloy was right behind him, boots pounding the concrete floor, lungs burning with the hot air he was suddenly drawing in so much faster, his heart racing, they ran. Pixl was faster than Zloy would have guessed him to be, but he managed to keep just behind him. Though when Pixl rounded the corner and through the door out of the greenhouse he got a bit ahead, Zloy tripping through the door. He stumbled but didn’t fall and quickly picked up speed again. As they ran a long, low whistling sound radiated through the building, one that spiked up in pitch right at the end. Zloy couldn’t tell for sure where the sound had come from but it was clear they’d been caught. Pixl was nearly to the atrium when Zloy heard a loud, inhuman noise, one he wasn’t sure what exactly to describe as, but it came from one of the rooms with the cattle pens. There was a crashing as the open pen gates were slammed into before a huge beast came barreling out of the doorway. Zloy slid to a stop, it was a massive bull that had barely fit through the open space, it’s body was coated in those same strange mushrooms, it’s fur intermingled with a thick coating of lichen. The beast didn’t seem to notice him, charging ahead…

_Towards Pixl._

It let out another horrifying sound and that was followed by running footfalls up metal steps. The bull charged into the atrium, ramming hard into the spiral staircase. Pixl screamed, the sound quickly drowned out by groaning, screeching metal. He reached the doorway in time to see Pixl scramble up on the landing as the staircase was wrenched away out from under him. The bull shook its head violently, only entangling and bending the metal worse before it caught on the second spiral staircase, tangling up in it to the point the beast couldn’t quite get free…

The problem with that was the fact that Zloy was now trapped down here with it, with both the metal staircases inaccessible… the atrium now filled with what looked to be three thousand pounds of beef and mushrooms. Looking up he saw Pixl, standing at the edge of the railing, panting and watching Zloy, he was shaking. Zloy swallowed hard and realized he might not have long. For the moment the beast was stuck, tangled by its own horns but as soon as it was free Zloy could only assume he’d be as good as dead. Most people had attack dogs, not attack _bulls_. Almost immediately though, Zloy was cursing the thought because he heard a low, angry growl behind him. He didn’t look, he didn’t waste time to see what kind of dog it was or if it was also coated in mushrooms and lichen. He did all he could do and broke into a run, bolting across the atrium, hoping the bull wouldn’t get free, hoping the dog wasn’t terribly fast or maybe wouldn’t even give chase. He ran through the darkness, darting up the stairs, taking them two at a time. His lungs and throat burned, something twisting and making him cough as he crashed into the stairwell door at the second floor. He shoved through, forcing the door closed faster than it’s worn arm would normally allow. He hoped it was heavy enough to keep any dog from following but he had no intention of finding out. He resumed his run, bolting towards Pixl who was ready to continue running from the way he stood, the way he waited.

Panic filled Pixl’s face and Zloy didn’t have time to question why before the floor was sinking under him, causing him to stumble, the carpet pulling at all sides. A sound filled his ears, the screeching of rusted metal, the snapping of weak wood, the popping of rotten carpet pulling apart. Zloy couldn’t stop the scream that was ripped from his own throat as he tried to dive for the edge but it was too late, there was nothing to push off of, leaving him to pitch head over feet as he fell. His mind flailing and filling with panic, his heart racing before the drop ended and he struck the concrete floor hard, showered in all sorts of debris. The ripped carpet swayed, blocking out what light came from the atrium, bathing him in darkness. His body screeched in agony, jarred and left him entirely winded. He’d landed on his back, barely not his head, and the world was spinning. Slowly his sense filtered back in, he felt cold, he could hear yelling, something else too, a rustling or a scraping.

Zloy realized he was laying in a puddle, the shouting he heard was Pixl’s voice, shouting his name, filled with panic and fear. He hated the sound of it, a sharp twisting in his chest at hearing it. He wanted desperately to tell Pixl all would be well, he’d be fine… but as he tried to regain himself he found he couldn’t move his legs and he wasn’t sure why, it was too dark. He reached for his flashlight but it was gone, no telling where it had ended up… Shifting his weight he felt the gentle tug around his neck of the camera’s lanyard. He took a firm hold of the camera, tracing it’s form with his fingers to the switch for the flash.

“Zloy!” Pixl shouted again, his voice cracking. Zloy sucked in another shaky breath, gathering his strength as best he could.

“I’m alive!” He called up, drawing a relieved sob from Pixl above. As the other film undergrad fell quiet though, Zloy’s attention was drawn back to the odd sound near him. A bare foot slapping down on the concrete. He turned the camera that way, taking a shot and watching as the flash flickered to life, spilling light across the corridor for just a moment… so brief... he’d seens something though. His heart was in his throat as he pressed the button again, light flickering through, giving a vague glance at something humanoid but…

Again…

Humanoid but…

Wrong.

Again.

The flash, bright, too quick, the thing was closer. He pressed the button once more, fear curtling through him, he didn’t know if he wanted to see it… it was…

Standing.

Right.

Over.

Him.

  
  


He felt cold hands grip hold of him, he…

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Zloy screamed, true, unabated terror ringing through the halls, sinking into the very bones of the building with a mark of absolute fear.


	2. The Acceptance

Pixl sat crumpled next to the hole in the floor, his hands in his hair, his body shaking. What he’d just witnessed… He couldn’t make Zloy’s screams stop echoing in his head even though they’d long since stopped ringing from the floor below. At this point everything was quiet, there wasn’t a sound in the building. His mind was spinning, he couldn’t bring himself to accept what he’d seen. He couldn’t get his breaths steady, still choking against sobs, tears trailing down his face. Were they from fear or from the pain twisting in his chest at the seemingly undeniable truth that Zloy was…

Zloy…

He…

…

“No…” he whispered, not wanting to accept it.

He saw the flashes of light from Zloy’s camera, he’d heard Zloy scream, heard the sound of something… something squelching and crunching, of something being dragged… but it had been too dark. He denied the horrifying images those sounds had tried to conjure up, of some animal trying to…

He shook his head again, another sob racking through him.

He wasn’t sure how much time had gone by before the tears refused to fall, it didn’t stop the ache in his chest, it didn’t sooth the regrets rolling through his mind but part of him felt numb, numb enough to the fear he was finally able to move. Slowly he stood, ambling back towards the atrium, it was quiet and that was almost more unnerving, because he couldn’t tell where that beast was if it was quiet… peaking over the railing the sight was not one he expected. The stairs were trashed but the bull was gone, however, in its place was a dark shape on the floor, almost like it had melted where it stood. That dark shape was made up of the strange mushrooms, he realized. Something about that made the wrongness of that fungus all the more pungent, he wasn’t sure what to make of it but he was certain they were linked to all this.

Shakily he turned away, carefully as he could he moved across what was left of the floor in the hall, his stomach twisting at the sight of the broken boards and torn carpet where Zloy had fallen through. Slowly he pushed the door open, slowly moving into the stairwell, trying to make as little sound as he could now that he knew there were  _ things _ down here. What exactly, he couldn’t wrap his mind around and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. He slowed all the more as he reached the bottom of the stairs, the light of his camera dimmer than before, casting everything in an eerie glow. There was a puddle on the ground, muddled red, there were streaks of red, fading brown, on the floor. There was a pile of rubble… but no Zloy.

Something reflective caught his eye, right next to the puddle and Pixl crept over to it… Zloy’s keys. Carefully Pixl knelt, scooping those up and pocketing them. He wouldn’t be stranded at least. Looking around he saw no signs of movement, heard not a sound. It struck fear through him yet again as he looked in the direction the blood on the floor led, into one of the rooms off to the side, pitch black within. Was the thing that dragged Zloy away… that attacked him, was it still there? He had no idea, he hadn’t seen ways out when he’d been in there before but then again, they’d really only glanced the room over. Somehow he managed to force his feet to move again, carrying him that way, illuminating the room, the ruble piled here and there… he saw no doorway other than the one he stood in, but there was also no sign of a body.

Following the trail of blood led him to the far wall, it ended at another mass of mushrooms climbing the wall. It wasn’t deep enough to be hiding a body, but it was tall and wide enough for a person to fit through if it had been a hole instead of a patch of fungus. He swallowed hard, realizing he wasn’t going to find Zloy. Not on his own.

Laying on the floor before the growth though, was Zloy’s camera. Pixl scooped it up, tucking it under one arm. He made his way back out of the room, his camera battery and the light battery failing now, the light dimmer. He didn’t have time to keep searching. Besides, he was alone now, a lot more vulnerable to… to whatever…

Would anyone even believe him?

He didn’t know.

There was so much he just didn’t know.

Carefully he made his way back up the stairs, back around the hole in the floor. Picking his way back the way he and Zloy had come earlier, making his way back into the more structurally sound part of the building. It was here he realized how low the sun was getting, how little time he had left to move. The thought of being here, after dark, it struck a chord of terror so deep his knees threatened to buckle again. He couldn’t afford that though, not right now. With a shaky breath he broke into a run and bolted down the hall as quickly as he dared. He had to slow as he reached the lab, the wet, algae and moss coated floor slick and threatened to make him slip. The floor felt weak as he wiggled around the door into the decontamination chamber but once there he ran again, his terror spiking at the thought of someone closing the door and sealing him inside. Thankfully though, there was no one there. He bounded through, running back along the wall of windows, following the lazy curve back to the lobby, the door was just ahead…

It was steadily getting darker and darker, he was racing the setting sun and in the distance, somewhere deep in the compound he heard a bone shattering, blood curdling screech. He couldn’t tell if it was a pained noise or an angry one, if it was human or… something else. Was it searching for him? Had it lost him if so? The sun was still fading so he forced himself to get moving, feet pounding against the mushy carpet of the lobby until he slowed at the window, carefully stepping through. His heart was pounding in his ears, he felt like he could barely breathe, his mind still felt like it was coming apart at the seams with everything that was wrong but there was no time to panic, no time left to try and process it all.

He had to get to town…

He had to tell the police…

Trespassing…

No.

Zloy was more important than any fine. Pixl didn’t care if he’d be spending the night in a jail cell, that didn’t matter, not when Zloy might still be alive, when someone armed and specialized in finding people had a better chance… and if other people were trespassing too then the police really needed to know…

But the things he saw…

The mushrooms…

Would the police even believe him?

Perhaps he should leave out the part about the vanishing mushroom cow, that would probably be a safer bet… He wasn’t even quite sure that had been real himself. Pixl jogged across the parking lot, rounding the back of the van to wrench open it’s driver door, all but flinging himself inside. He quickly shuffled the cameras off of himself and tucked them behind the seat. He didn’t have the capacity to try putting them away properly right then, they could already be damaged from the run out of the building…

He froze, eyes locking onto the lanyard of the camera for stills… it was soaked with blood.

Zloy’s blood…

Zloy.

With shaking hands Pixl got the keys shoved into the ignition, turning the engine over. The starter hissed several long beats, the engine shuddered, the electrical bits dinged… it didn’t start. Turning the key back with a shaky whine Pixl glanced nervously out the windows, the sun was dipping below the trees now, casting the entire parking lot in long shadows. It caused most of the visible part of the building to vanish as well, just a dark shape amid the trees. The world around him was still, quiet, as if the trees themselves were waiting on something, a silence just primed to be shattered. He swallowed hard against the ball of fear in his throat, hand shaking as he cranked the engine again. The starter growled and hissed, the engine turning over, over, over, before finally catching and roaring to life. A relieved sound rattled from his chest, somewhere between a whine and a whimper and he threw the vehicle into gear. Turning on the headlights and pulling out of the parking space, the sun vanishing as he drove along the haphazard road.

His chest was still burning but not from the run, his body was shaking and tears stung his eyes but he wouldn’t let them fall yet. His fear for Zloy was well beyond the roof and cutting through the clouds but he wouldn’t give in, not yet. Not until it was confirmed that all hope was lost. He was more than a little nervous that his first impression on the people in this town would be that he and his classmate snuck into an abandoned, off limits property… that he had to speak to the cops… he was terrified. He couldn’t, however, just leave Zloy out there… hurt and probably terrified. Possibly still in danger. Pixl tried to drive carefully, tried not to damage the borrowed vehicle as he made his way back to the main highway. As soon as he turned onto it though he pushed the old van hard, forcing it a few miles over the speed limit even though it seemed to work harder than it should have had to. He ripped the respirator off his face, tossed it to the passenger seat, glanced at the gauges before the road, the gas needle was dipping faster than it probably would have if he’d been a bit easier on the hunk of steel but that didn’t matter right now.

Nothing mattered.

Only Zloy.

Reluctantly he slowed as he reached the town, heeding the speed limit despite his fears. Getting a ticket right now wouldn’t help matters any. He didn’t know the town well, a close look at a map to know where the hotel would be, but as he passed old residences and made his way into the more business oriented side of town he realized just how  _ dead _ it was. Even though it was early evening, there was no one out and about. Most every business was already closed, even the ones that looked like they might still be in use. Though every other building sat empty, many with realty company signs in their windows. The telltale clues of a town on the brink were far more prevalent than he expected and in some way it was frustrating. Still, in spite of that he managed to find the police station… the building’s lights were off, not a car to be seen parked. It sent a chill of cold fear up his spine, a sharp spike through his heart.

There was no help.

There was no police.

There was no one.

It was deserted.

He was on his own in this… and there was no way he could find Zloy out there. Shakily he let the van roll slowly by, tearing his eyes from the empty building to scan the street desperately. Looking for any sign of… anything. Anywhere he could ask for help, anywhere… There was a post office… it looked like it was still in use. That gave at least a little hope and glancing across the street he spotted another official building, a single light on inside, a car parked out front. It was like an oasis in the desert. A relief on his fear filled mind, his denial gripped heart.

A sheriff’s office.

He flipped the turn signal on autopilot, looping a U turn over the empty street, bringing the van to a stop with a less than socially polite parking job. Not that his mind was anywhere on the laws of traffic outside of getting to where he needed to be and clearly this was it. He cut the engine, all but falling out of the van as he rushed to the door, only to collide heavily with it… it was locked. Pixl bounced off the glass, staggering a bit as he was left jarred. He was still shaking the stars away when he heard the telltale  _ shhlack _ sound of a deadbolt being turned in a glass and metal door. Looking back that way the rest of the lights were on now and a single man stood in the doorway, holding the previously locked door open. He wore the uniform of a sheriff, complemented by a scruffy gray beard, despite the gray he didn’t look as old as most who owned so many gray whiskers. His eyes were a sharp, deep blue, betraying an intelligence and perception that would likely scrub anything Pixl tried to hide to the surface… he wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad one.

“You alright? What’s going on?” He asked, voice strong and firm.

“I… the… I… it’s… he’s… He’s trapped out there please you’ve got to send someone, please he may be hurt-” He started trying to explain but the Sheriff raised a hand, brow furrowing.

“Slow down. Who’s hurt, and where?”

“His… his name is Zloy, we’re film undergrads from the university. We… We were in the abandoned lab for a project… He, he fell, something… I don’t know… an animal? It attacked him and… and I think someone might be hiding out in that place, we, we found… and that’s when we decided to leave but…” Pixl trailed off, heart tightening as he watched the man’s face go more stoic and grim.

“Come inside and sit down.” He said firmly, stepping out of the way.

Pixl couldn’t really argue, he hadn’t even realized he was shaking until he started moving again, his hands trembling, his legs felt weak, his stomach rolled and dread filled every fiber of his being. Something about the Sheriff’s expression left him feeling… haunted. He walked into the office, the reception area was sparse, a couple old chairs that looked like they’d been there since the early nineties against one wall, a hanging organizer on the wall full of legal pamphlets. The opposite wall held a window into the dispatcher’s office, a small sliding window at the bottom. It was all quite standard fair. He heard the sheriff lock the door back behind them and He’d be lying if he said that didn’t make him nervous. The town felt so silent and desolate, this one man, one with the power of the law behind him…

“This way.” The Sheriff said, passing him by and opening a door next to the window.

Pixl was in no place to argue, wishing he could at least shake less like a leaf in a hurricane. The room through the door was one large office, there was a desk at one end with a pair of chairs set before it. Three more desks were set up through the room, a scattering of personal items on each that would probably offer some clue about their owner if he had enough of a mind to look them over. He didn’t, instead making his way over to one of the chairs as the Sheriff returned to his desk. With the backdrop of the state’s flag, with filing cabinets and bookshelves flanking the man at the semi nice desk… He seemed even more imposing and that didn’t help.

“You and your friend were at the abandoned lab?” He asked, voice calm, level.

“Yes sir…”

“And you found evidence of someone out there?”

“Yes… it looked like they were cultivating mushrooms.” Pixl explained shakily, too afraid not to admit at least that much.

“Mushrooms… hell.” The sheriff’s brows furrowed further, he didn’t seem to disbelieve Pixl though, he wasn’t sure if that meant he should worry more or less.

“Please… He’s in danger please someone needs to go out there.” Pixl pleaded and a weary, hopeless expression crossed the man’s face before solidifying into something grim.

“Your friend is already dead.” The shariff said, looking Pixl dead in the eye. The flatness of his tone, there was no doubt, not a hint of hope.

“You… you can’t know that… He… He was still alive he-”

“Once whatever is out there gets its hands… or claws… or whatever, on someone… they don’t come back. We’ve had too many people go missing out there, a few make it back to tell about how whoever they were with, got dragged off, screaming, or just, vanished without a trace. Anything from teens out on a dare to some of my best damn deputies have been claimed by that place.” The Shariff explained, his tone held more than Pixl could quite process in that moment.

“Please…” Pixl pleaded weakly, fingers digging into the sides of his own jeans as he felt tears burning at his eyes, panic riling up a pocket of natural gas catching fire. Rising in a rolling rage to consume him whole.

“I’ll go with a couple of my best to try and recover him in the morning, but going out there at night is a deathwish.” He stated, his voice apologetic.

“But…” Pixl’s voice lost its weight, despair settling in like oil spreading over water.

“You got a place to spend the night?” The sheriff asked, again something in his tone managing to pull the information forth where Pixl had wanted to give it or not.

“Yeah… the hotell…”

“Best head that way, I’ll escort you.”

“Alright…” Pixl muttered, trying to pull his mind together enough to comply. It felt like something had been ripped right out of his chest, leaving him numb, leaving a feeling of an unending fall, like the floor had vanished out from under his feet. He just wanted to crumple in on himself, to let the floodgates spill open, but he couldn’t do that just yet, though he wasn’t quite sure why. His mind felt numb, simultaneously too full to think clearly and totally empty, lacking any single strand of thought to put together.

He was drawn slightly to a point of focus when the Sheriff put his hand on Pixl’s shoulder. The undergrad glanced up at the man, at the calm, understanding expression there. It was like he’d known… like he’d known everything, like he knew more than he was willing to tell. Part of Pixl wanted to grab the man, to shake him and scream, to demand they head back out there immediately, to try and find Zloy… but there was no point… was there?

It was already too late.

Zloy was gone.

Pixl felt listless, his body moving more of its own accord than from any will to actually go anywhere. He fell into step behind the sheriff until he was ushered out of the building. He stood silent before the van, staring the vehicle down, wondering distantly how he was going to explain to its owner why Zloy wasn’t the one returning it. He saw the Sheriff head for his truck, passing through Pixl’s peripheral vision. Drawing in a long, slow breath, Pixl managed to shove one foot in front of the other, returning to the driver’s seat. He wasn’t shaking this time as he struggled to start the engine, trying a couple times over before he finally got it to start. There were no thoughts as he put the van into reverse, getting back on the road. He knew where the hotel was and something about driving on the desolate street felt surreal. The street lights casting an eerie glow across buildings both abandoned and not, the road worn enough that it wasn’t quite black anymore.

Carefully he guided the van between the lines, vaguely aware of the sheriff following him, logic holding more grounds than anything else. It was logic, this was the logical thing to do, to listen to the authorities, to do as was asked of him… On some deep level he couldn’t help but be a bit surprised at just how much pain was boiling within, muffled under a thick fog of numbness, but that numbness would not last, logically, he knew that. He just had to hope he could hold together long enough to get to the quiet of his hotel room and sure enough, no sooner than had the thought crossed his mind, he spotted the turn to the place in question.

The hotel was a very, very large old house, a plaque situated on a pillar at the gate marking it as a historical location. It stood out starkly against the rest of the town, both old and in use. It looked well cared for, easily one could imagine it looked exactly the same now as it had a hundred years or more ago when it was built. Despite this though, the parking lot was very sparse, he only spotted one other vehicle. He parked, sitting motionless for a long moment, just listening to the engine idle. He wasn’t sure just how long he sat there, staring at the gauges as if they held some sort of answer, they didn’t of course, they couldn’t. The numbness felt suffocating, dizzying at what it was trying to muffle out. His whole body felt heavy with it, an unpleasant prickling sensation rippling through his limbs, the rational threads of his mind wearing thin faster than he could quite hope.

Had he really cared this much?

Had Zloy really meant so much?

They hadn’t been together…

No matter how badly Pixl wished they had been.

If only he hadn’t been so hesitant... 

So many missed chances… so many opportunities he could have said something, surely then, then it would make sense.

Perhaps it was the regret.

That did, certainly bite to be sure, cold, sharp, slicing through the dull fog to jab at him, like a whisper in the back of his mind… reminding him of the price of hesitance. In the end… hesitation had cost him Zloy, had cost him any chance at anything more, it had-

Pixl nearly jumped out of his skin when something knocked on the glass of the driver window. His head snapped that direction, his panicked and still disoriented mind taking longer than it normally should to settle on the form of the Sheriff standing beside the van, watching him with a quiet sort of concern. Pixl gave his best attempt at an apologetic expression as he could in his current state then turned the key, letting the engine shutter to a stop. The Sheriff stepped back so Pixl could get out, the man falling into step with him as he made his way towards the building. There was no words exchanged, something akin to stoic support emanating from the man, but also a stern reminder that Pixl was  **not** to be going back to the abandoned lab.

The porch was wide, the steps a dark wood, lacquered to a nice shine, the porch light and light from the windows of the first floor were more than enough to see by, casting the old porch in a warm gold glow. There were a few chairs set on the opposite side of the porch and he couldn’t quite stop his mind from conjuring the image of how nice it would have been to sit there with Zloy over a cup of coffee and discussing editing. Sharp, white hot pain ripped through the numb fog in a brief flash from his heart, enough to make him falter in his step. That pause was enough for the Sheriff to step past him, opening and holding the door. Pixl had to work to drag his mind back together, to offer some sorry excuse for an appreciative nod at the man before stepping through the door.

The entry room was grand for a house but small for a hotel lobby. There was a staircase against the left wall, leading up. The landing at the top had a railing, allowing people to see down to the door from above. Nestled beside the staircase was a counter, it had been designed to match the molding design of the walls, painted a faint gray and with a black countertop. Set atop that was a bulky computer that while outdated was likely enough to keep up with bookings. Next to it, a phone, the chair behind the counter sat empty. There was a door behind the desk, closed and with a little plack that likely said management but Pixl didn’t bother to squint at it. To the right was an archway into another room, it was set with tables and chairs and a pair of fancy tables, one holding a coffee pot.

“Hey Stress! You’ve got a check-in!” The Sheriff called with a familiarity that only a small town officer could have. There was a noise from beyond the door and glancing that way in time to see the door swing open a woman with rather fluffy brunette hair come through. She wore a bright pink cardigan and carried herself with the kind of pleasant air of a person who mothered pretty much all her friends. Her bright smile faltered to something more worried as she looked from the Sheriff to Pixl.

“Oh my goodness, are you alright lov?” She asked, her accent quite heavy but not one Pixl had the brainpower to place at the moment.

“Not really…” Pixl admitted with more honesty than he really meant to let slip.

“Him and his friend went out to the old lab, you give me a call if anything strange come sniffing around for him.” The Sheriff said, not going into detail but the hairs on the back of Pixl’s neck stood on end at that.  _ What exactly did that mean? _ Did the Sheriff think something would… try to track him down? Then again, with the strange things he’d seen and heard… part of him wouldn’t be surprised if something came to finish the job.

“Oh no… I’ll call ya right up if I hear or see anythin Cub, don’t ya worry.” She assured before turning a sympathetic look on Pixl.

“Alright, I’ll let you take it from here then.” The Shariff said, heading back out. Stress reached over to the computer, not bothering to sit down but bracing on the counter with one hand while she ran the mouse. After a glance at the screen she opened a drawer on her side, taking a key from a slotted organizer within, then looking to Pixl.

“Let’s get you to yer room alright lov? You look like you need a month of sleep.” She said as she stepped around the counter and he could only nod, falling into step with her as she started up the stairs.

“They… won’t go look… I…” Pixl found himself saying and the woman caught his arm in her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“I know, they ain’t going to either, not till the sun’s up at the very least. Place is cursed, I just hope nothin’ followed you outta there.” She said, tone quiet, understanding and kind, but slightly grim.

A chill ran through him, something in her words, the seriousness of her tone combined with what he’d seen… he couldn’t help but feel like she might be more right than he would have believed a day ago. He nodded a little and she let go of him, continuing the ascent up the stairs. He moved silently, letting her guide him down the halls, pausing at one door to unlock it before holding the key out to him.

“Thanks…” he muttered, taking it before heading through the door.

“Get some rest.” She called after him and as he closed the door he could hear her footsteps retreating away on the fancy carpeted floor.

He leaned against the door, looking at the room. It wasn’t the one he had booked, it held a single bed but it was a larger one, the room was very nice in all. The wallpaper looked new or maybe restored, the style old but it didn’t show a lot of wear. The carpet too, looked recent but not too out of place. The furniture showed the most wear with some dings and scratches, but it was ornate, wood, antique to be sure. Walking into the room there was a door into a bathroom on the right, a closet beside it. There was a tv sat atop the dresser across from the bed, a runner stretched under it, embroidered at its ends. The bed was made up with a hand made quilt and the whole room had the air of something one would expect the guest room of a rich grandparent to have.

He looked the room over, his mind grabbing at those details in desperate attempt to distract, but quickly he’d run out of things to observe and the events of the day started ebbing their way back to the forefront of his mind. Everything had started out innocent enough… They’d just been there to film, to get some pictures…

The camera.

He’d left the camera in the van, along with his suitcase, with a quiet sigh Pixl turned back around, forcing his mind to lock onto the task at hand, not daring to let the emotions boiling to bubble up just yet. He set his jaw and slipped back out of the room. Quietly he made his way back down the hall, then the stairs. A glance around the lobby showed that Stress had gone back into the management area, though that door was left open a crack. He turned, opening the heavy front door of the hotel and slipping back outside. The van looked quite lonely where it sat, with the Sheriff now gone. The parking lot was still, as was the hotel grounds. It was a quiet sort of eerie, there was a brick wall about five feet tall wrapping around the property, though the heavy iron gates he’d driven through earlier sat open. He wondered if that was an oversight, or if it would simply do no good had anything followed him…

How much did the people of Hermiton really know?

What were they not telling him?

Would Zloy still be-

He cut the thought off, shaking his head hard as he reached the van and opened it up. He stepped up inside, careful not to step on anything important then grabbed Zloy’s camera from where it sat behind the passenger seat. He then reached over and grabbed his suitcase from where it laid against Zloy’s bag. Just… left there, it’s owner would not be the next person to move it. Pixl couldn’t deny how much that simple thought  _ hurt. _ It shouldn’t, he tried to reason with himself… but that didn’t make the pain any less real. With a heavy hearted breath he pulled himself out of the van, shoving the doors closed with his elbow before turning back towards the hotel. The only thing to accompany him was the sound of his own footsteps, the weight of his own thoughts, the fading cloud of numbness…

“Pixl.”

He froze, his heart nearly leaping from his chest. He spun, eyes scanning the parking lot, the grounds in front of the hotel…

But no one was there, not a soul.

The voice had been faint, but he could have sworn… there was no wind, no one around. Swallowing hard and only barely remembering to breathe he resumed his trek, walking back up the porch steps, shaken. His footsteps fell a little faster and he found himself ripping the heavy door open with little effort, hurrying up the stairs while it swung closed behind him. He could hear it latching as he headed down the hall to his room. He tried not to let his hurried pace make him too loud, though he was pretty sure he was the only guest staying at the hotel at the moment. He hadn’t bothered to lock the door when he left so the nob turned easily when he took hold of it. He stepped back into the room, carrying the suitcase over to the bed and settling it there, setting the camera beside it before he turned back to close the door. In the few steps towards it he could hear someone else moving in the hall, but he didn’t lean out to see who it was, just closing the door. Just as it was nearly shut he saw a shadow move past, sending another chill through him.

Maybe something had followed him. He stepped back slowly, as quietly as possible, listening but it was silent out there. Unnerved but realizing he was so on edge it could be absolutely nothing, he turned his attention back to the camera and suitcase. The shock of what had happened felt like it was bleeding away, taking the numbness with it and leaving behind a rolling boil of pain, regret and fear. With the more hopeful memories of when he’d latched the suitcase closed coming to mind they felt like a sick joke now. Like whatever power that be was laughing in his face. Just his luck he supposed, for falling for another man. Either there was no higher power or it took cruel amusement in making people like him suffer. That really didn’t matter though, as he opened the suitcase and pulled the laptop out from it’s secure place between his clothes. He set it on the bed, opening it and poking the power button before moving his attention to the camera. The screen was shattered, the lens was scratched, there was a crack in the plastic casing of the main body and overall, it may have to be replaced. He scowled as he turned it over, opening the battery compartment to get the memory card free. By the time he’d set the camera aside the laptop appeared to be finished booting up. Another sharp jab ripped through his heart, threatening to break his composure at the sight of his background. The photo had been taken by a friend, himself and Zloy along with a couple of other classmates just hanging out under one of the larger trees on campus. He remembered that day, one of the many missed opportunities, he remembered how their friend and classmates had gone off to get food, he remembered how close he’d been to moving his hand just a few inches to rest on Zloy’s… he’d almost told him that day.

He should have…

He didn’t.

Now it was too late.

Something stung his cheeks and when he reached for them he found tears, a sob shook his shoulders at the realization, emotion threatening to overtake him, his heart aching. He took a steadying breath, fighting it back down, despite the pain… the memory of the flashing camera stood out in his mind, Zloy’s screams still in his ears… if he’d captured what attacked him… maybe Pixl would have an idea of what the town was so afraid of. With shaking hands he got the memory card plugged into his computer, fighting back another sob as his eyes graced across Zloy’s face in the picture, that bastard smile…

He’d never see it in person again.

The thought alone was like a pair of scissors being stabbed into his heart and  _ then _ opened, like his heart was ripping apart from the inside. More hot tears stung his cheeks, his breaths feeling a little harder to draw in. With blurry vision he pulled up the folder for the memory card, trying his best to fight past the searing pain in his chest to find answers. Wiping his eyes he focused on the little icons… he wasn’t prepared for what they hinted, his mind screeching to a halt not unlike running face first into a brick wall. He opened the first that caught his attention, only a couple of shot in…

It was a picture of himself, from when he’d been filming. The next was the same, very good pictures taken while he was unaware. Photos of him acting natural, relaxed and unconcerned. There were… so many… so few were actually of anything else, these… these were of him, a little window into what Zloy had seen… something he’d found important enough to capture.

Did that mean…

Had Zloy…

Had Zloy felt the same?

Shaking… he reached up and closed the laptop, his breaths coming in short bursts, ragged, his eyes blurring up with tears again he buried his face in the bed. His whole body shook as the realization burned into his mind, as it shredded his heart to bits, as every fiber of his being was suddenly in agony, like his broken heart was echoing through everything else. Absolute despair writhed through him, a strangling, cruising, suffocating feeling that felt like it would swallow him whole, like he would drown within it. All those moments, those almosts, even today, in the lab, when he’d turned and Zloy had been right there… if he’d just  _ said _ it… If he’d just  **told** Zloy… the regret boiled and rolled, ripping his heart from the inside out. With each sob that wracked his body it only seemed to grow worse, Zloy’s screams echoing in his ears, the all to clear realization that those words unspoken could never be said now. With what the Sheriff had said… Pixl doubted he’d even get to say those words to Zloy’s corpse, cold and still in a coffin.

What he wouldn’t do…

What he wouldn’t give…

To start the day over…

To go back and take one of those chances…

To have another one…

To hear Zloy’s voice one more time…

To finally taste his lips…

But that would never be.

He’d never know Zloy’s arms around him, he’d never hear his voice again, he’d never get the off chance to see him staring. He’d never be the subject of Zloy’s focus, he’d never again know what was on Zloy’s mind. No more laughter, no more opportunities, no more smiles, no more shared projects, no more road trips… it hurt to breathe. With each shuddering breath, with every burning tear, the ache in his heart only burned on. There was no relief, there was no escape, his body felt so heavy, the sorrow dragging down his very being. It felt like the pain would leach into his soul, leave him broken.

He didn’t know how long he laid there, but eventually his eyes burned but no more tears would fall. His breath was still in shaky gasps, his shoulders still shook with sobs, but no more tears came. He felt hollow, his heart still beating, no longer numb, but too tired to hurt. The misery still hung over him, like a sheet draped over a child on halloween, but this phantom would not leave by the night’s end. His mind had no more thoughts to torment him with at least, leaving him only the feelings, mostly physical, as emotionally wrung out as he was. He could feel the sturdy fabric under his face, he could hear the silence of the room aside from the soft whirring of his laptop’s fan.

That was, until another sound reached his ears. A metallic click and rattle, a slow scraping… a click… the soft whoosh of a wooden door over carpet. Slowly… he looked up, there was a figure but that was all that registered before the lights cut out with a click. Whatever was started ambling into the room towards him, it was indeed ambling as well. A low, gravely groan rolled out from it, sending a chill down Pixl’s spine and he swallowed against the lump in his throat. Slowly he scooted himself across the bed, standing on its other side. He was trapped though, doubting there was enough time to fight with the window. He waited tensely, his heart tight in his chest, he was ready to dart one way or another, to make a break for the door as the thing ambled closer. In the blink of an eye it went from ambling to suddenly right before him.

The sound that escaped his throat likely wouldn’t be described as the manliest of noises, but that didn’t really matter. What mattered was that thing was suddenly far too close for Pixl’s liking and he tried to dart out around it.

It grabbed him.

Suddenly he was on the floor, pinned down on his back. The shadowy figure had him held securely in place, straddling him as it leaned down into his face, only then did his eyes manage to focus on…

…

….

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Zloy.

  
  
  
  


It was Zloy.

  
  
  
  


His eyes glowed, his skin was ashen, another, unsettling roan pulled from the dead man’s throat, leaving Pixl to sink into the carpet under him as his stomach twisted. Fear gripped his tired heart, but so did that pain rise up again, in the face of what they’d done to the man he’d fallen for…

And never told.

“I’m sorry…” Pixl muttered, watching as some glent of something flickered through Zloy’s glowing eyes.

Zloy leaned in ever so much closer with another growl, Pixl couldn’t tell if there was anger there, if there was resentment… did Zloy blame him? Resent him? Did he have enough mind left to even remember?

“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have left you behind… I’m sorry I didn’t… say things I wanted to tell you… I don’t blame you if you’re mad… I… I can think of worse ways to die.” Pixl said, his eyes burned, his aching heart calling for tears that wouldn’t fall. He let his eyes fall closed instead. He waited, expecting to get mauled, not nearly as afraid as he was filled with regret at losing Zloy. He relaxed under Zloy’s grip, waiting, uncertain how exactly his fallen classmate would kill him, fast or slow or…

He felt Zloy’s cheek brush softly against his own, cold.

“What is it you wanted to tell me?” His voice was rough, sounding every bit like he’d screamed it away, the whisper barely audible. Pixl’s heart skipped a beat, his mind grasping at whether this was genuinely Zloy, or if whatever he’d been turned into was just toying with him.

“Zloy…” Pixl started, opening his eyes and turning his head slightly, enough to signal Zloy to lift his own, to meet Pixl’s gaze.

Silence stretched between them, Pixl not allowing his gaze to waver, even as he struggled to find the words, his heart shouting at him, like this was his last chance… but the words died in his throat. Zloy’s eyes narrowed after a few moments, something in his expression, hurt or perhaps disappointment, it tugged at Pixl’s already sore heart and he could take it no longer. Gently Pixl reached up, caressing Zloy’s cheek, his skin still soft, just cold. Pixl felt his lips quiver, forming around words that failed before they started, nothing his frazzled mind thought of felt right. Finally he gave up on words all together, showing his lack of fear on top of the rest of the feelings he couldn’t voice. He slipped his hand around to the back of Zloy’s head and pulled him closer, rising slightly to meet him partway. He caught a flare of surprise dancing in Zloy’s eyes before they fell closed.

His lips met Zloy’s and he kissed him with all the intensity, all the passion, all the feelings he couldn’t find words for. Zloy held a bit of hesitance, or perhaps a bit of delay but before Pixl could even think of pulling away Zloy was replying with his own unspoken emotion. It pulled at Pixl’s heart in a way that still hurt in a way, with the knowing that they’d been dancing past each other for so long, until it was seemingly too late. There was more though, something that soothed the pain, a warmth, a fulfillment that brought a level of relief in the face of despair. With each motion, of chasing Zloy’s lips, of him doing the same, it was like chain after chain was being ripped free of his heart, letting it dance and flutter in his chest.

He couldn’t help the soft whine that escaped his lips when they parted from Zloy’s. He drew in a breath though, his lungs burning at the extended moment of no air. Softly he let his eyes flutter open, meeting Zloy’s gaze. There was a thoughtful look there, something appreciative, something… admiring and… more.

“Yeah… I haven’t been able to find those words either. Couldn’t imagine… that you…  _ even now? _ ” Zloy asked, sounding a bit lost.

“You’re here aren’t you? You’re you aren’t you? I thought I’d lost you… forever… whatever’s happened… it’s a second chance.” Pixl said softly and he watched as Zloy’s eyes widened before his face fell to a soft expression. He looked like he wanted to cry with relief.

“All I’ve thought of since I woke up was you, I don’t know what happened either, I thought for sure I was a dead man… and I might be, something is certainly not right.” Zloy admitted, a little unnerved as he thought about it.

Pixl caressed his cheek again, tracing a soothing pattern over Zloy’s cheek. Zloy watched his eyes a moment before shifting his weight and taking Pixl’s hand, moving it to press his fingers to Zloy’s throat.

“Pixl I don’t have a  _ pulse. _ ”

“We’ll figure this out… somehow. The people in this town seem to know something but they don’t really… say it.” Pixl said thoughtfully, more than a little disappointed when Zloy moved off of him. He didn’t argue as Zloy took his hands and pulled him to his feet again though.

“Do they know we were out there? What happened to me?” He asked, worry creeping into his tone.

“Y-yes… I went to the Sheriff, I refused to believe you were dead but I couldn’t… do much on my own.” Pixl admitted, shrinking a little at the memory. Zloy pulled him into a tight hug. Pixl wanted to melt in the embrace, not even caring about the amount of mud and gods knew what else saturated into Zloy’s shirt.

“Damn… if they know what’s going on out there they might know what happened to me… but I’m not sure if I trust them or not.” He admitted.

“They know enough to refuse to go out there at night, they know people vanish out there. Still… probably should tell the sheriff so he’s not sending people out there unneededly first thing in the morning.” Pixl sighed.

“Yeah… probably better to try and say I found my own way out than to have them out there with… whatever those things are.” Zloy nodded, slowly letting Pixl go, then dusting some mud off of him. “In the meantime I should probably shower.”

“Yeah, I’ll fetch your bag and see about calling the Sheriff while you do that.” Pixl offered, to which Zloy nodded, leaning in close, wordlessly asking one more kiss to which Pixl more than happily obliged. He couldn’t deny the way his heart sang with the contact, remaining pleased even once the kiss ended. Zloy flashed him that bastard smile before vanishing through the bathroom door. Pixl had to stop himself from swooning too hard. He shook it off as best he could before leaving the room, heading back down the stairs. He wasn’t sure how late it was but he did his best not to be too noisy, despite that spotted Stress standing at the front desk as he descended the stairs.

“Oh- he’s okay I fink. Might be a false alarm.” She said, glancing his way.

He gave a sheepish wave and walked over to her.

“You look somehow both worse and better than earlier.” She noted, kind brown eyes studying his own, likely puffy and red ones.

“I’m alright, is that the Sheriff?” He asked.

“Deputy False.” She said, holding the phone out to him. He took the receiver, putting it to his ear.

“Hi… uhm, yeah my classmate got out of there, not dead.” Pixl said and it, seemed technically true enough.

“He’s damn lucky. I hope you two both learned not to trespass.” The woman said firmly, her voice not leaving room for argument.

“Yes ma’am. There is still the matter of what we saw out there though, I do think someone’s out there up to no good.” He admitted, thinking back to the odd symbol on the door.

“We’ll check into it, you just stay away from there. One of us will be by the hotel in the morning to get your statements.” She said and he was glad to have someone who sounded very by the book.

“Sounds good, we’ll be here.” He promised, handing the phone back to Stress, she cast him a smile, cradling the receiver between her head and ear as she settled back into her chair. He didn’t pay any attention to her conversation from there, heading out the door and back to the van. Despite it being later now there was less of a foreboding feeling now, having Zloy back did wonders to ease his nerves. Still, he didn’t delay retrieving Zloy’s belongings, the thought of him dressed in nothing but a towel might bring a blush to his cheeks but that didn’t mean he should instigate it against Zloy’s wishes.

With a shake of his head he closed the van back up, turning towards the hotel for the third time that evening. For as peaceful as it had been that eeriness seemed to seep back in and he slowed once on the porch, glancing across the ground towards the main gate. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to look that way, aside from perhaps the subtle feeling of being watched. He hadn’t expected the instinct to actually hold validity but he froze when his eyes locked on what was standing out there, in the middle of the street. Six hooded figures stood out there, in a line, watching the hotel. Pixl felt frozen looking at them, like they were staring back, right through his very soul. It was like their baleful gaze left him rooted in place, even if he couldn’t see their faces through the shadows of their hoods. He was left with an inescapable sinking feeling, like he was trapped on a ship taking on water far too fast, dread rising up to drown him.

That was, until He heard a shout echoing from somewhere along the street. Startling him out of the trance and seemingly startling some of the cloaked figures with the way they quickly turned.

“Hey! Freaks! What have you done with my husband!?” Quickly the owner of the voice was in view, a blonde man just a few inches shorter than the tallest of the cloaked figures.

Said figures didn’t offer up any answer, at least not one Pixl could hear from the distance he was at, they just loomed.

“Say something! Where is he? What have you done to him you bunch of shroomed up fanatics!” The blonde continued shouting, sounding angrier with each word.

The shortest of the troup started forward, motioning at the others, who all started falling back aside from the tallest. The tallest caught the shortest’s shoulder, there was a hesitance, then that one too, turned and started away.

“Cowards! Get back here! You-” The blonde cut himself off as the tallest hooded figure got right in his face. Whatever happened next was just a little too quick for Pixl’s eyes to follow, but then the blonde was sinking to the ground and the cloaked figure was moving to follow the others quickly.

Pixl felt frozen in place all over again. The blonde wasn’t moving… was he hurt? Worse? Laying out in the road like that… if he’d been knocked out, even as dead as the town was, that wasn’t exactly a safe place to be. He glanced back at the door, Stress was still at the desk… but how long would it take for the sheriff to get back? For help to arrive?

Dropping the bag Pixl sprang into motion, vaulting over the porch’s railing. He hit the grass running, rushing across the hotel grounds, across the drive, out the gate. He dropped to a knee beside the blonde, still laying in the middle of the street. The man was awake, grunting in pain as he squinted up at Pixl, a look of a deeper pain mixed with something more disturbed holding his expression. He held one hand to his abdomen, blood leaking out around it. Pixl cursed under his breath, glancing the direction the hooded figures had gone, but there was nothing. He turned his attention back to the blonde.

“Can you stand?”

“With some help maybe.” He huffed, clearly taking effort to speak. Pixl nodded, taking the man’s free arm and helping him to his feet before pulling that arm over his shoulders. He kept a careful grip on the injured man, heading back towards the hotel as quickly as the other could manage. Despite the pain and the injury he was able to make almost a normal walking speed, though Pixl wasn’t sure how much he was straining himself to do so. He was bleeding badly, the blood dribbling past his hand to drip onto the ground. They were nearly to the steps when he paused, shoulders shaking violently when he coughed. He managed to turn his head away from Pixl, but Pixl still saw spattering of blood that was lodged free.

“Just a little further.” Pixl said encouragingly and the man nodded, shakily setting the next foot forward. He was hanging more heavily on Pixl’s shoulders now though, losing strength fast. Pixl was half carrying the man by the time they reached the door and Pixl was wrenching it open. Carefully he helped the man through, into the lobby.

“Tango!” Stress shouted, panicked. “False, get Xisuma over here fast! Tango’s hurt!”

The receiver of the phone was all but thrown down, Stress not waiting on whoever was on the other end to reply before leaping into motion, she ran to the back room. Pixl guided the injured man, apparently named Tango, over to the nearest chair to sit down.

“Thanks man.” Tango huffed, sounding considerably weaker than before. Most of the front of his shirt was soaked with blood now, his hand was shaking and there was blood dripping from his lip.

“What happened? Who did this?” Stress asked as she hurried back in, dropping a first aid kit at Tango’s feet before kneeling beside him, gently pulling his hand away.

It was all so bloody and Pixl was no doctor, but it looked bad.

“Damn… Moral Morel freaks.” Tango huffed.

“Did you see who it was though?” Stress pushed but Tango just looked away from her, silent.

“There was a group of them but whoever it was stood taller than Tango.” Pixl offered, shrinking back a little under the glare from Tango that earned him.

“So between than and a certain someone’s stubbornness… it was Impulse wasn’t it?” She asked, pressing gause to the wound.

“Just don’t tell the law… Those bastards have him brainwashed.” Tango said shakily, clearly distressed and Pixl guessed that this Impulse must have been the husband Tango was yelling about earlier.

“What are these Moral Morel people? A cult or something?” Pixl asked, glancing between the two.

“Yeah, that sounds fitting enough.” Tango said, voice bitter but weak.

“Damn it Tango, hold on.” Stress said firmly, frowning at the fading man.

Pixl heard the door and glancing over he spotted a couple of people coming through the doorway. A blonde woman in a deputy’s uniform stepped in and held the door, a man with curly brown hair pulled back in a bun. He wore a lab coat, stethoscope hung around his neck marking him as a doctor, most likely at least. Quickly Pixl got out of the way, letting the man tend to Tango.

“Did you see what happened?” The deputy, False he assumed, asked.

“Yes.” He nodded, turning his attention on her as best he could, though he couldn’t help the worry for the wounded man just a few feet away. He relayed all he’d seen, the group staring at him, Tango antagonizing him, the way they’d filed off but one stayed behind to stab Tango before fleeing as well. He omitted the bit about the one doing the stabbing potentially being Tango’s husband, something in him just couldn’t deny the wounded man’s wish for his husband not be named in the crime.

“False we need to get him back to my clinic, this won’t do for long.” The doctor said, drawing Tango’s attention back to him, seeing as the man scooped Tango up in his arms like he weighed nothing. Tango was pale… listless.

“Let’s go.” She said with a nod, holding the door a second time before following him out.

Pixl stared at the door for a few long moments, seeing the red and blue flashing against the glass as the deputy’s vehicle zoomed back out of the gates. Finally he managed to pull his mind back together enough to remember he wasn’t alone in the room. Turning he saw Stress still knelt in the floor, still leaning on the chair.

“Are you okay?” He asked her gently.

“Not really.” She admitted somberly with a small shake of her head.

“You… don’t think he’s gonna…”

“No!” She said firmly, looking up at him sharply. She’d called Tango stubborn earlier but it was clear she held some of her own as well.

“I’m sorry.” He said gently, feeling a bit awkward.

“Not your fault luv, thank you for bring’n him in here. Tango’s not one to giv up easily. I’m sure he’ll be okay. I just… tired of that… nightmare claiming my friends.”

“Does… the cult have anything to do with the lab?” He asked, remembering the odd symbols, the evidence of humans being around, the mushrooms…”

“Has to be. All our woes started when that place changed hands… changed focus.” She sighed, standing and gathering the mess of first aid supplies back into their box.

“What happened?” He asked, trying his luck, but she shook her head.

“It’s too long a story, may be better you don’t know anyway.” She sighed, taking the supplies back, not giving further explanation as she vanished back into the back room.

He let out a long, stressed sigh before turning towards the stairs, only to remember what he’d come down for in the first place… and realizing that Zloy was still waiting on him. Jumping slightly he hurried back outside to scoop the bag up off of the porch where he’d dropped it. There was still something ominous left hanging in the air when he stepped back in the door, the blood dripped onto the floor didn’t help those matters any. On top of that though, the secrets the town was hiding, there was something deep seeded there, something that had been wearing away at the town and its people for a very long time. A cult willing to kill, some experiment gone wrong… or perhaps right, depending on what the end effect was meant to be. Whatever else was hiding in the darkness of this town.

He paused outside the room, the sounds of the tv on within an obvious sign that Zloy was out of the shower.

Zloy…

Whatever had happened to him, that just added to the gravity of one simple fact; they were in over their heads. There was a low boiling panic that started bubbling up again, with all that had happened… almost losing Zloy, running from horrors, witnessing a cult attack a stranger in cold blood. He swallowed hard against the rising lump in his throat, pushing back against the panic speeding the rate of his heart. In over their heads or not, they were right in the thick of this strangeness now and there was no turning tail and running. With a shake of his head he pushed the door open, stepping back into the room with Zloy’s bag in hand.

He had to fight himself from gasping at the sight that greeted him, much better than he could have imagined to be fair. Zloy sat on the bed, reclined back but propped up by his elbows, his waist wrapped in a towel, his hair in a few stages of drying, some still stuck to the sides of his face. His skin was much more ashen than it had just that morning, but after whatever he’d endured, that seemed a small price to pay. His body was a bit more muscular than Pixl had expected, he didn’t recall ever crossing paths with Zloy at the gym-

“I recommend taking a picture.” Zloy said matter of factly, tilting his head to the side and turning it just enough to meet Pixl’s gaze. Pixl felt his face going warm and there was no hiding the redness rising in his cheeks, summoning a laugh from the other man.

“I uh, I… sorry I didn’t mean to stare.” Pixl managed to squeak.

“I don’t mind.” Zloy promised with a wink before falling back on the bed, something about his tone and the action left Pixl a step away from swooning. Or rather, perhaps that was denial, he was fairly certain if he tried to walk his legs would give up on him.

He found himself helpless to his own desire as he watched Zloy, watched as the other man moved one arm to use as a pillow, turning that grin on him again. Eyes that almost seemed to glow, promising something… more. Zloy chuckled after a moment, breaking the spell mercifully.

“Better toss that here so I can get dressed before you lose your mind.” Zloy teased.

“I, uh, yeah sorry.” Pixl said, shaking his head before bringing the duffle over and handing it to its owner. That done Pixl pulled the laptop back up, shifting his focus and trying hard to ignore Zloy as he got dressed. The dusting of red remained on his cheeks though as he kept scrolling through the folder of pictures, of the continued gathering of photos of himself Zloy had chosen to snap. Among them were other photos of interesting things in the building though, especially the strange mushrooms. Then there was a shot of darkness, the last handful of photos were similar, the light of the flash catching the floor, but not reaching much beyond. They were taken in rapid succession, Pixl’s mind pulling back the details he’d seen from his vantage point all too clearly. The rising terror, the constant click, the bright flashes…

The screams…

Slowly, several photos in, a shape started to emerge out of the darkness. Humanoid in shape, but with… too much bulk in several places, bulk that only barely showed against the darkness, clusters of mushrooms on a human body. It was an outline, the bright flash catching and blowing out the shape too much to really give full definitive form, but with what Pixl had seen of the bull before, this thing wasn’t hard to imagine the missing details of. He swallowed hard, clicking the next photo, but this one was blown out entirely, too bright, the flash reflecting off the concrete floor, the camera’s lens angled too low to catch anything. That was the last photo. Clicking next bringing up the first picture in the folder, looking so serine against the final one. The contrast of how the day started to how it ended.

Pixl was drawn from his unsettled thoughts as he felt the weight on the bed shift next to him. He felt the heat rise to his face again as Zloy laid next to him, wrapping an arm around him and leaning in to look at the screen. It was hard to focus on the computer though, his hand going impossibly still on the trackpad. His focus falling entirely to the feeling of Zloy beside him, holding him, but then that hold shifted, started lifting away.

“I can uh, not do that if you’d rather…”

Pixl couldn’t quite find the words to protest so he gently reached back, caught Zloy’s hand in his and pulled the other man’s arm back around himself. He was sure he couldn’t have gotten anymore red in the face but he glanced to Zloy anyway. Pixl didn’t have the words, but it seemed the motion was enough to convey what he ment. He was half certain his heart was going to run away from him at the sight of Zloy’s smile. Zloy held him a little tighter, turning his attention back to the soft glow of the lcd screen before them. Pixl let out a soft sigh of contentment, even with the uncertainty and strangeness, even with how overwhelming it was; as long as Zloy was there whatever was to come would be worth it.

“Anything useful, or have you looked all the way through yet?” Zloy asked, drawing Pixl’s attention back to the computer.

“There’s a little, I’m not sure how helpful it will be to the authorities though.” He admitted, backing up to the last handful of pictures. He felt Zloy tense against him at the sight of the thing that had dragged him away.

“Depends on whether or not they believe us.” He said hesitantly.

“I think they will, whether they’ll admit it or not I don’t know, they’re very cagey about the whole thing, but… they know something is weird.” Pixl noted thoughtfully.

“Yeah…” Zloy sighed, turning his head to bury his face against Pixl’s neck.

His skin was cool to the touch, but it felt quite pleasant, when Zloy placed a kiss ever so gently there Pixl couldn’t suppress the shiver that rolled through him. He could Zloy’s lips pull back in a smile against his neck. Another kiss, then another slightly above the last, Pixl’s heart sped up again, it felt as if it’s attempts to fly away were making him weightless. He almost didn’t register the soft little moan that escaped his lips as his own. His eyes fell closed and he found himself angling his head to leave more of his neck exposed, more room for Zloy to trail cool little kisses.

“I wish… I’d told you so much sooner…” Pixl muttered softly, rolling carefully to one side, drawing Zloy with him to wrap his arms around him. Zloy didn’t protest, he slipped his other hand between Pixl and the mattress, micking the same hold.

“I can say much the same. I can’t tell you how long ago I fell for you, it was slow I think.” Zloy admitted.

“Well, maybe it’s good I didn’t say something  _ right _ away then.” Pixl admitted, heat rising to his face again.

“Oh? Love at first sight eh?” Zloy asked in an amused tone, his smile so warm and adoring that Pixl’s heart threatened to melt.

“Something like that, yeah.” Pixl said, trying to regain some sort of control over his blush. That sentiment went right out the window though, when Zloy leaned in and gently kissed his jaw.

“I never thought someone as awesome would ever have any interest in me to be honest.” Zloy noted before placing another kiss.

“A-are you kidding? I was happy at least getting to know you, I tried to be happy with just that.” Pixl said softly.

“But it wasn’t enough…”

“No.”

They lapsed into silence, meeting one another’s gaze, there was an understanding there, of the depth of each other’s longing. How long had they both been like that? In love with the other from a distance, too afraid to say anything, too afraid to trample the friendship they’d managed to gather. It made Pixl’s heart hurt as he thought about it. He had only ever just wanted to love Zloy since he’d first seen him, though he’d been quick to brush those thoughts aside. Still, perhaps there’d been a reason as to why they hadn’t faded. Zloy continued with his gentle kisses, letting the silence live on around them as the world seemed to fall away. As all that remained was each other, all that remained was a loving embrace and a heart fluttering enough for them both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EEHHEHEH Happy Halloweeeen!!!
> 
> well, that worked out, didn't it? but also I can't seem to resist tangpulse getting in the middle of things being gay and injured. oops.
> 
> Pretty sure about the total chapters now, fingers crossed!  
> I have been struggling to get this out all day the INTERNET JUST DID NOT WANT TO COME BACK. Anyway, finally I have nets and can post weeee. Please forgive if there's more errors this chapter than the last, my editor is also having internet issues and hasn't had a chance to check this chapter <3

**Author's Note:**

> EHEHEHEH WELL, I WONDER WHAT HAPPENED THERE????  
> Stay tuned! Next chapter coming out soooon
> 
> Also that number of total chapters is a bit tentative but we'll see! I'll also be adding characters to the tag as they show up ^^


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